Flowtab

Mobile app to order drinks on nightclubs

Description

Flowtab was a mobile app that wanted to use technology to solve the problem of long queues in bars and hospitality venues. Flowtab created an app that would show users a list of drinks they could order from their mobiles without having to wait for the bartender to take their order. The app was connected to the bar's iPad which would then sync the orders to the POS terminal of the bar and payments would be are sent to the bar's bank account.

Stats

Category

Food and Beverage

Country

United States

Started

In 2011

Closed

By 2013

Number of Founders

One

Name of Founders

Mike Townsend

Number of Employees

Between 51 And 100

Number of Funding Rounds

Nothing

Total Funding Amount

-

Number of Investors

Nothing

Precise Cause of Failure

Bad Business Model

Business Outcome

Shut Down

Cause of Failure

Flowtab tried various
business model but could never found one that was both feasible and profitable.
On paper, any bar would have wanted to use such an application. In reality, it
proved quite hard for the company to get deals. This type of service requires a
large number of users to be profitable since they only charged the customer $1
after they successfully placed an order. However, users don't usually stick to
the same bars but would often choose a different one from week to week, and
most users only used the app once or twice per month. Things could have still
worked out, but when, in a promotional event they invited about hundred people
to various clubs, their technology failed them and the founders resorted to
serving drinks themselves to angry customers. This caused many people to leave
one-star ratings for the app further thinning the chances of the app success.

Since their founding
was limited they were also understaffed and a very small team had to take care
of everything. After a couple more pivots and some members of the team leaving
to pursue other goals, Flowtab finally decided to shut doors.

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Flowtab was a mobile app that wanted to use technology to solve the problem of long queues in bars and hospitality venues. Flowtab created an app that would show users a list of drinks they could order from their mobiles without having to wait for the bartender to take their order. The app was connected to the bar's iPad which would then sync the orders to the POS terminal of the bar and payments would be are sent to the bar's bank account.

Cause of Failure

Flowtab tried various
business model but could never found one that was both feasible and profitable.
On paper, any bar would have wanted to use such an application. In reality, it
proved quite hard for the company to get deals. This type of service requires a
large number of users to be profitable since they only charged the customer $1
after they successfully placed an order. However, users don't usually stick to
the same bars but would often choose a different one from week to week, and
most users only used the app once or twice per month. Things could have still
worked out, but when, in a promotional event they invited about hundred people
to various clubs, their technology failed them and the founders resorted to
serving drinks themselves to angry customers. This caused many people to leave
one-star ratings for the app further thinning the chances of the app success.

Since their founding
was limited they were also understaffed and a very small team had to take care
of everything. After a couple more pivots and some members of the team leaving
to pursue other goals, Flowtab finally decided to shut doors.